CAPPING 24 hours of uncertainty with the US navy taking management of Kabul’s airport following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, India Tuesday evacuated its complete embassy within the nation’s capital, together with Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, on a particular IAF plane.
This is the second time since 1996 that India has evacuated all its diplomats and personnel from the embassy — each occasions after the Taliban had captured energy. Over the previous few weeks, India had evacuated its diplomatic employees from consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif because of the Taliban surge, and earlier from the consulates in Herat and Jalalabad as a result of Covid.
On Tuesday, the IAF C-17 Globemaster plane with 129 nationals, together with diplomats, embassy employees, safety personnel, civilians and three sniffer canine, took off from Kabul round 7.30 am (6.30 am native time). It prevented Pakistani airspace and flew over Iran to land in Gujarat’s Jamnagar at 11.30 am. Following a break for refuelling, the plane touched down on the Hindon Air Force Station close to Delhi at 5.30 pm.
“After two weeks of a very complicated situation, having to take decisions and work in conditions that were very unusual, I think the whole mission is very happy that it’s finally over and that we are back home safely, securely, without any accidents or harm to any of our people,” Tandon informed reporters through the Jamnagar stopover.
On Tuesday, the IAF C-17 Globemaster plane with 129 nationals, together with diplomats, embassy employees, safety personnel, civilians and three sniffer canine, took off from Kabul round 7.30 am (6.30 am native time).
“We are a mission of 192 personnel that were evacuated from Afghanistan literally within a period of three days in a very orderly fashion,” he mentioned.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned: “In view of the prevailing situation in Kabul, it was decided that our Embassy personnel would be immediately moved to India. This movement has been completed in two phases and the Ambassador and all other India-based personnel have reached New Delhi this afternoon.”
This was the second evacuation flight by India within the final two days after one other C-17 plane had introduced again 40 individuals from the embassy within the early hours of Monday earlier than airport operations had been suspended.
This is the second evacuation flight.
“Our immediate priority is to obtain accurate information about all Indian nationals currently in Afghanistan,” the MEA mentioned whereas calling on employers to share obtainable data with its particular Afghanistan cell.
The Ministry additionally mentioned the Government is “committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals and will institute flight arrangements once Kabul airport is open for commercial operations”.
Earlier Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who’s on a four-day go to to the US, posted on Twitter that he was “monitoring the situation in Kabul continuously”. “Understand the anxiety of those seeking to return to India. Airport operations are the main challenge. Discussions on with partners in that regard,” he posted.
Jaishankar additionally spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in regards to the growing state of affairs. According to sources, this dialog performed a job in facilitating the evacuation, and allowed the IAF plane stationed in Kabul to take off.
The C-17 plane touched down on the IAF airbase at Jamnagar at 11.30 am, the official mentioned.
Jaishankar mentioned in one other tweet that he “underlined the urgency of restoring airport operations in Kabul. Deeply appreciate the American efforts underway in this regard.”
“The main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of Kabul airport. This has been discussed at high levels with our partners, including by EAM (External Affairs Minister) with the US Secretary of State,” the MEA mentioned.
Tuesday’s evacuation happened after a day and night time of stress triggered by chaotic scenes on the airport in Kabul, which was swarmed by lots of of Afghans in search of to flee Taliban rule.
In the morning, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted: “In view of the prevailing circumstances, it has been decided that our Ambassador in Kabul and his Indian staff will move to India immediately.”
But the evacuation turned out to be tougher than anticipated with the brand new Taliban regime but to have its buildings in place because the embassy discovered when it reached out for approvals.
The course of had begun on Sunday, the day Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the nation and their authorities collapsed. The plan was to finish the evacuation on that day with two convoys continuing to the technical space of the airport, which is underneath the management of the US navy.
The first convoy of 45 individuals was in a position to depart the nation. But the second batch of 130 individuals couldn’t attain the airport because the state of affairs on the bottom had shifted and the Taliban refused to allow them to proceed.
On Monday, with lots of of Afghans surging onto the tarmac, the embassy tried once more to evacuate the remaining group. But clearances from the Taliban took longer than anticipated. The embassy then explored the potential for airlifting personnel to the airport on helicopters however that plan didn’t work out, both.
The await approvals, which was purported to be a “matter of minutes”, turned to hours and the complete day was spent in backwards and forwards. Meanwhile, extra civilians, together with this reporter, had reached the embassy to affix the evacuation flight.
Finally, after greater than eight hours, approvals got here from the Taliban. After that, the method was clean, with the convoy being escorted by Taliban fighters until the outer perimeter of the airport. But it nonetheless took a while to get entry to the US military-controlled facility.
In Jamnagar, the evacuees had been welcomed by native officers and state authorities representatives. Gujarat Minister Dharmendrasinh Jadeja informed The Indian Express that he was a part of a delegation that “went to the tarmac to welcome the evacuees with garlands”. The plane was refuelled, and the evacuees taken for lunch, he mentioned.
“The passengers included around 80-100 staff members of the embassy, personnel of the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which had been guarding the embassy), and civilians,” Jamnagar District Collector Sourabh Pardhi, who was current on the IAF station, mentioned.
Ambassador Tandon, in the meantime, mentioned India is “continually monitoring the situation because there are still some Indian citizens who are there”. That is why, he mentioned, Air India will “continue to run its commercial services to Kabul, that is as long as the airport in Kabul functions”.
Referring to Afghans stranded in Kabul, Tandon mentioned “it’s not like that we have abandoned the people of Afghanistan”. “Their welfare and our old relationship with them is very much in our mind. We will, going forward, try and continue our interaction with them,” he mentioned.
(With Krishn Kaushik & Gopal Kateshiya)
